Category:

Eco/Invest/Demography

Reinsurance price rise slowing due to strong capital supply and recovering profitability: Fitch

Fitch expects the sector’s combined ratio, normalised for large losses, to improve by 2pp–3pp in 2021 and another 1pp–2pp in 2022 as price increases gradually feed into underwriting margins.

However, price rises are slowing due to strong capital supply and recovering profitability, and we expect risk-adjusted prices to remain largely unchanged in 2022.

read more

From locusts to cyclones: the human cost of interlinked disasters

The huge locust swarm which hit the Horn of Africa in the Spring of 2020, and Cyclone Amphan, which struck the border region of India and Bangladesh in May that year, might not seem, on the face of it, to be connected, but a report released on Wednesday by UN University, the academic and research arm of the UN, shows that there were connected underlying causes: greenhouse gas emissions from human activity, which are affecting the environment in unpredictable ways, and a lack of sufficient disaster risk management.

read more

Govt considering foreign institutional investment of up to 20% in LIC IPO: Report

The listing of LIC is set to be India’s biggest ever IPO, with the government aiming to raise up to Rs. 900 billion ($12.24 billion) from its stake sale.

The move will help ease the fund-raising process for the IPO planned by the government for the company most likely in the current financial year. The IPO is expected to be offered in two parts to investors given concerns over the Indian stock market’s ability to absorb an offering of such a size.

read more

India Inc resorted to salary cuts in Q1, will be drag on economic recovery: Report

The “weak” wage growth will prove to be a drag on the overall economic recovery in the medium term as it will affect household consumption, the report by India Ratings and Research said.

An environment of pandemic-led uncertainty and elevated inflation could impact the level of spending and hence the overall demand. Resuscitating wages will be critical for a revival of the overall economy and Capex cycle, which has been languishing even before the COVID-19 outbreak, it said., it said.

read more

‘It’s connected to you’: Shared causes fuel surge in disasters

From Arctic heat and wildfires to Texas cold-weather power outages and Amazon deforestation, threats around the world that may seem unrelated are increasingly compounding each other, United Nations researchers said in a report released Wednesday.

The underlying causes of the rising risks – from climate change to lack of cooperation among governments and ignoring the value of nature in economic decision-making – are common across many of them, researchers said.

read more

‘Everyone is scared’: Govt’s criticism of Infosys, Tata worries India Inc

In India, safeguarding domestic businesses has been Modi’s priority. While government or RSS criticism of foreign businesses like Amazon and Monsanto is common, local businesses are rarely caught in the crossfire.

But the latest events have raised concerns among business leaders about whether Modi is now taking a hardline approach towards domestic giants as well, five industry sources said.

One venture-capital executive said the criticism was akin to “harassment” of businesses and risks souring investor sentiment.

read more

HDI Global first partnership on autonomous vehicle segment

Meryem Seyyar, Head of Digital Solutions commented: “This is the perfect time for HDI Global to take a lead and increase its support for the development of the Autonomous Vehicle & Systems ecosystem. AV’s will undoubtedly be a significant part of everyone’s future and the sooner we can establish our expertise and process within the space, the better we will be able to serve our partners moving forward.”

read more